Don't qualify for a balance transfer card? Try this...

beertron

I currently owe £3126 on my Barclaycard Platinum. My interest rate is 17.9% and I'm looking to transfer the balance to a new card with a 0% interest rate. I used the money saving expert pre-application eligibility checker and was gutted that it said I had a 0% chance of being approved by any of the cards. Well that eliminates my chances of shifting this debt anytime soon... or does it?

I called Barclaycard customer services and a really nice chap answered and I fibbed that I had been offered a credit card from another company that gave me 25 months with 0% interest on balance transfers with a 2% fee (this is the Halifax card on the balance transfer cards section of the money saving expert main site, but I never mentioned which card or company). I said I was about to accept the offer and thought, well I bank with Barclays and both the bank and Barclaycard had always given me such great customer service, I'll call them and see if they can make me an offer that would entice me to stay.

The guy didn't even hesitate, he said "ok, if you hang on for a moment I'll get you my supervisor." I hadn't even asked for a supervisor! So the guy comes on the phone, I said exactly the same thing and he offered me 2 options. He would cut the interest rate for the card to 12.9%, or he would do a 2 year balance sweep (I'd never heard of this). He explained that for 2 years, I would pay an interest rate of 9.9% on my existing balance, but any new spending would have the same 17.9% rate that the card already had.

Well I'm not going to be doing any new spending on the card, so I took the 2 year sweep. Now I'll pay off the balance at nearly half the interest and make sure I'm clear before the 2 years is up. It's not the 0% I was trying for, but it's a result :cool: